Yarsanism

For the related religio-cultural community in Turkey, see Alevi. For the Turcoman Shī‘ah militant groups who helped found the Safavid dynasty of Iran, see Qizilbash. For the esoteric Ṣūfī sect, see Hurufism.

The Yarsan or Ahl-e Haqq (Kurdish: یارسان‎, Yarsan,[1][2]Persian: اهل حق‎ Ahl-e Haqq "People of Truth"), is a syncretic religion founded by Sultan Sahak in the late 14th century in western Iran.[3] The total number of members is estimated at around 1,000,000,[4] primarily found in western Iran and Iraq, mostly ethnic Goran Kurds,[5][6][7] though there are also smaller groups of Persian, Lori, Azeri and Arab adherents.[8] Some Yarsanis in Iraq are called Kaka'i.

The Yarsan have a distinct religious literature primarily written in the Gorani language and partly in Persian. However, few modern Yarsani can speak or read Gorani (a Northwestern Kurdish language) as their mother tongues are Southern Kurdish and Sorani Kurdish, which belong to the other two branches of the Kurdish language family.

The Sarl living near Eski Kalak are adherents, as Edmonds (1957: 195) surmised and Moosa (1988: 168) observed. Their central religious book is called as Kalâm-e Saranjâm, written in the 15th century based on the teachings of Sultan Sahak.

Up to the 20th century, the Yarsani faith was strictly for Kurds who were born into it, called checkedea ("a drop of"), as opposed to individuals who married into a Yarsani family, called chasbedea ("attached"). Adherents today are mainly found among the Kurdish tribes of the Guran, Qalkhani, Bajalani and Sanjabi, located in western Iran, forming approximately a third of the population in the religiously diverse Kermanshah Province.[9] There are some groups located around Kirkuk in Iraq. The Arabic-speaking adherents are based in the Iraqi cities of Mandali, Baqubah, and Khanaqin.[10][11] According to Encyclopædia Britannica, "The chief source of information about the Ahl-e Haqq is the Firqan al-Akhbar, written in... early 20th century by Hajj Nematollah"[12]

The Ahl-e Haqq follow the mystical teachings of Sultan Sahak. From the Ahl-e Haqq point of view, the universe is composed of two distinct yet interrelated worlds: the internal (Bātinī) and the external (zāhirī), each having its own order and rules. Although humans are only aware of the outer world, their lives are governed according to the rules of the inner world. Among other important pillars of their belief system are that the Divine Essence has successive manifestations in human form (mazhariyyat) and the belief in transmigration of the soul (dunaduni in Kurdish). For these reasons, the members of Ahl-e Haqq faith cannot be considered as part of the religion of Islam. The Yarsani faith has no common belief with Islam other than the ghulatShia Islamic assertion of the divinity or godhead/godhood of Ali, although it can be identified as Kurdishesoterism which emerged under the intense influence of Bātinī-Sufism during the last two centuries. There are however, some followers of the Ahl-e Haqq who believe that they are an Islamic group and that all other doctrines contradicting the Quran occurred centuries later by other influences. They believe that some followers today who claim they aren't Muslim lack knowledge, since the Ahl-e Haqq belief sees Ali as a perfect example to follow.[13] The same problem and differences in opinion can be seen in the belief of the Alevis.

Some people believe that the Ahl-e Haqq was originally a Sufi order within Shia Islam. The name, popularity and influence of Haji Bektash Veli is well known among the Ahl-i Haqq.

According to Ahl-i Haqq legend[14] after Sultan Sahak, the last great Divine Manifestation, had completed the revelation of his esoteric teachings (haqiqat) to his first disciples among the Guran he took his leave of them. Disappearing from the Guran country without a trace, he reappeared in Anatolia in the form of Haji Bektash Veli. He taught mystical doctrines and techniques (tariqat) in those lands for almost a hundred years, and then returned to the Guran country. In the perception of his disciples there, he had been away for only an hour.[15]

The Yarsani have a famous saying about death; "Men! Do not fear the punishment of death! The death of man is like the dive which the duck makes."[citation needed] Human beings go through a cycle of 1001 incarnations. During this process, they may become more purified based on their actions.

The Yarsani are emanationists and incarnationists, believing that the Divine Essence has successive incarnations in human form known as mazhariyyats (similar to the Hinduavatars). They believe God manifests one primary and seven secondary manifestations in each of the seven epochs of the world. The mazhariyyats of the First Epoch closely matched by name the archangels of the Semitic religions; the mazhariyyats of the Second Epoch, which begins with Ali as the primary avatar, also includes all Muslim figures except for one, Nusayr - either referring to the "Nazarene" (i.e. Jesus), or Nârsh, the minor avatar who later came to be known as Theophobus. (See Nazarene (sect), Mandaeism)

In the Fourth Epoch, the primary mazhariyyat is held to be Sultan Sahak. It is said that he was given birth by Dayerak Rezbar or Khatun-e Rezbar, a Kurdish virgin, and as in the case of Mary, it was a virginal conception. While sleeping under a pomegranate tree a kernel of fruit fell into her mouth when a bird pecked the fruit directly over her.[17] Although some mistake this as an incarnation of the Virgin Mary and of the mother of Ali, it echoes Mithraic and Zoroastrian beliefs, of the birth of the Saoshyant, the savior of Zoroastrianism born of a virgin, impregnated by the seed of Zoroaster or Zarathushtra in Lake Hamun in Sistan. Mithra was also believed to be both Savior and son of God, born out of a rock - wearing only a phrygian cap.

The "Haft Tan" (The Seven Archangels) are key figures in the Yarsani belief system and their history. The only female among them is Khatun-e Rezbar, the mother of Sultan Sahak.

The traditions of the Yarsani are preserved in poetry known as Kalam-e Saranjam (The Discourse of Conclusion), divinely revealed narratives passed down orally through the generations. These traditions are said to have been written down by Pir Musi, one of the seven companions of Sultan Sahak (also the angel in charge of recording human deeds).[9] The collection consists of the epochs of Khawandagar [God], ‘Alī, Shah Khoshin and Sultan Sahak, the different manifestations of divinity. The epoch of Shah Khoshin takes place in Luristan and the epoch of Sultan Sahak is placed in Hawraman near the Sirwan River, the land of the Goranî. The sayings attributed to Sultan Sahak are written in Gorani Kurdish, the sacred language of the Ahl-e Haqq. Some of their literature is written in the Persian language.[11]

^P. G. Kreyenbroek (1992). Review of The Yaresan: A Sociological, Historical and Religio-Historical Study of a Kurdish Community, by M. Reza Hamzeh'ee, 1990, ISBN 3-922968-83-X. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol.55, No.3, pp.565-566.

The Shabak and the Kakais in Northern Iraq, Syncretistic religious communities in the Near East: collected papers of the International Symposium "Alevism in Turkey and comparable sycretistic religious communities in the Near East in the past and present" Berlin, 14–17 April 1995, Krisztina Kehl-Bodrogi, Barbara Kellner-Heinkele, Anke Otter-Beaujean, Krisztina Kehl-Bodrogi, Barbara.